Collapsible bed rail



July 11, 1961 e. BECKWELL 2,991,487

COLLAPSIBLE BED RAIL Filed Oct. 20, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 96 8563660624650 E INVENTOR.

July 11, 1961 e. BECKWELL COLLAPSIBLE BED RAIL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed001;. 20, 1958 6501965 BECKJUEZC 1 N VE NTOR.

BYE/Q United States Patent 2,991,487 COLLAPSIBLE BED RAIL GeorgeBeckwell, Sugar Grove, Ill., assignor to The Cal-Dak Company, SanGabriel, Califi, a corporation of California Filed Oct. 20, 19 58, Ser.No. 768,467 4 Claims. (Cl. 5-331) This invention relates to portable bedrails, and more particularly to bed rails which may be folded into acompact position, whereby they may be more easily transported or stored.

This application is a continuation-impart of application Serial No.641,350 and now Patent No. 2,859,454, entitled Collapsible Bed Railfiled February 20, 1957, by George Beckwell.

The use of a foldable or collapsible bed rail has several advantages.They are used especially on large or adult size beds to prevent youngchildren from falling out of bed. This for the reason that this practiceis generally preferred to the expensive practice of purchasingso-ca-lled youth beds which are used only temporarily because they arelonger and wider than cribs but lower than adult size beds. It is alsoadvantageous to use collapsible bed rails for small children whentraveling or staying overnight at a dwelling not provided with youthbeds but only provided with adult size beds.

However, whether or not port-able bed rails are employed to avoid theuse of youth beds for small children or while traveling, since the bedrail is a relatively temporary expedient it is desirable to makeportable bed rails collapsible in orderthat they may be more compactwhen folded or collapsed and thereby be more easily transported andstored.

To the present time, many collapsible bed rails comprise a frame memberand two legshinged at the bottom .of the frame member to swing outwardlyand downwardly of it in parallel vertical planes. The two legs are theninserted between a mattress and a mattress support such as a set of boxsprings. However, the legs .tend to slip outwardly from the spacebetween the mattress and the mattress support. This means thatthe framemember will collapse toward the side of the bed. Locking means then mustbe provided to prevent the collapse of the frame member. Such lockingmeans are of course undesirable both because they are trouble- I some tooperate and because they add to the cost of a portable bed rail. i '1 Itis therefore an object of the invention to provide a collapsible bedrail having two support legs requiring no additional means to lock themin position for stability while the bed rail is in use.

The present invention achieves this object and overcomes this and otherdisadvantages of the prior art by providing a collapsible bed rail foruse with a bed having a mattress covered with a selected material and anunderlying material covered support for the mattress, the bed railincluding a frame member to extend only vertically along the'side of thebed, two tubular legs mounted on the frame member that are rotatablymovable about parallel axes in a substantially horizontal plane, the sumof the lengths of the legs from their respective rotational axes totheir respective ends being greater than the distance between theirrotational axes, the legs being movable to a position perpendicular tothe plane of the frame member and being further rotatably movable to acompact position extending towards each other from their respective axesof rotation lengthwise of the frame member, the ends of the legs beingflattened in a vertical plane at least a distance therealong where theyoverlap when rotated to said compact position, the flattened ends2,991,487 Patented July 11, 1961 ice thereby permitting the legs to berotated to the compact position substantially in line with each other,the flattened ends also protruding above and below the outline of thetubular portion of the legs to frictionally resist the withdrawal of thelegs from the space between the mattress and the mattress support.

Mounting means may be additionally provided, including stop means toprevent rotation of the legs beyond two extreme positions, one of theextreme positions being between each of the mounting means on thestraight line extending through them, and the other of the extremepositions being perpendicular to the straight line.

It is to be noted further that it is an advantage of the invention thatthe bed rail of the invention is mechanically stable while in use but isjust as compact as col-' lapsible bed rails of the prior art in view ofthe fact that the height of the frame member is substantially the samein either case. I

The above described and other objects and advantages of the presentinvention will be better understood when considered with the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings made apart of this specification, wherein several embodiments are illustratedby way of example. The device of the present invention is by no meanslimited to the specific embodi ments illustrated in the drawings sincethey are shown merely for purposes of description.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mattress and a set of box springs witha pair of bed'rails of the present invention mounted thereon;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of one of the bed rails;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the bed rail shown in FIG. 2; p

FIG. 3a is an enlarged elevation view of the end of one of the bed raillegs shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a broken away sectional view taken on the line 44 shown inFIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 shown in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the structure shown in FIG. 4.

In the drawing in FIG. 1 a bed 10 is shown comprising a mattress 12 anda set of box springs 14, with legs 16 mounted thereon. A pair of bedrails 18 and 20 constructed in accordance with the present invention areprovided, bed rail 18 comprising a .frame member 22 having mountingmeans 24 and 25 at its lower end to rotatably mount a pair of legs 26and 28 to fit between the mattress 12 and set of box spring 1-4. Framemernber 22 comprises simply an inverted U-shaped member 30 made out of ahollow tube with a hollow tubular brace 32 extending across andconnected to each leg of the U-shaped member 30. i

As shown in FIG. 2, flattened ends 34 and 36 are provided for bed raillegs 26 and 28, respectively, both to provide enlargement means toprevent the bed rail 10 from slipping outwardly from the space betweenmattress 12 and set of box springs 14 and to provide a convenientconfiguration so that th e legs may be folded to the compact positionshown in FIG. 2 at 38 and 40.

In FIG. 3 the ends of brace 32 to the ends of brace 32 are fixed to thelegs of the U-shaped member 30 by means of rivets 42. The shapes offlattened ends 34 and 36 are shown in FIG. 3a.

U-shaped member 30, brace 32, rivet 42 and leg 28 are shown in FIG. 4.Member 30 is provided with a washerli-ke member 44 fixed to the end ofU-shaped member 30 to enclose a notched disc 46 contained inside theinterior of member 30. Disc 46 is also fixed to member 30 to providestop means for a wedge-shaped member 48 fixed to the end of leg 28. Ascan be seen from both FIGS. 4

and 6, leg 28 is tapered at 50 at its upper end. At the end of the taper50, wedge-shaped member 48 is fixed thereto to slide in a horizontalplane from the position shown in FIG. 5 to a position 90 degrees to theright shown in FIG. 5. Apertured disc or ring 44 with disc 46 providesstop means to prevent vertical movement of leg 28 with respect to framemember 22.

Disc 46 is notched at 52 as shown in FIG. 6 to permit rotationalmovement of wedge-shaped member 48 fixed to the end of leg 28. Notch 52thus provides stop means to prevent rotation of leg 28 from its extremeposition shown in FIG. 2 to the extreme position denoted by dotted lines40.

Although one specific embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed, it is to be noted that the invention is not limited theretosince the scope of the invention is not defined thereby but only definedin the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A collapsible bed rail for use with a bed having a mattress and amaterial-covered support for said mattress, the said bed railcomprising: a frame member to extend only vertically along the side ofthe bed; two tubular legs mounted on said frame member that arerotatably movable about parallel axes in a substantially horizontalplane, the sum of the length of said legs from their respectiverotational axes to their respective ends being greater than the distancebetween their rotational axes, said legs being movable to a positionperpendicular to the plane of said frame member and being furtherrotatably movable to a compact position extending towards each otherfrom their respective axes of rotation lengthwise of said frame member,the ends of said legs being flattened in a vertical plane at least adistance therealong where they overlap when rotated to said compactposition, said flattened ends thereby permitting said legs to be rotatedto said compact position substantially in line with each other, saidflattened ends also protruding above and below the outline of thetubular portion of said legs to frictionally resist the withdrawal ofsaid legs from the space between said mattress and the said mattresssupport.

2. The collapsible bed rail claimed in claim 1 in which stop means areprovided to prevent rotational movement of the leg members beyond agiven fixed position in perpendicular alignment with the plane of theframe member.

3. A collapsible bed rail for use with a bed having a mattress and amaterial-covered support for said mattress, the said bed railcomprising: a frame member to extend only vertically along the side ofthe bed; two tubular legs mounted on said frame member that arerotatably movable about parallel axes in a substantially horizontalplane, the sum of the lengths of said legs from their respectiverotational axes to their respective ends being greater than the distancebetween their rotational axes, said legs being rotatable to a positionperpendicular to the plane of said frame member and being furtherrotatable to a compact position extending towards each other from theirrespective axes of rotation lengthwise of said frame member, the ends ofsaid legs being flattened in a vertical plane at least a distancetherealong where they overlap when rotated to said compact position,said flattened ends thereby permitting said legs to be rotated to saidcompact position substantially in line with each other, said flattenedend of one of said legs being positioned to extend in front of the otherin spaced relation thereto when said legs are rotated to said compactposition, said flattened ends also protruding above and below theoutline of the tubular portion of said legs to frictionally resist thewithdrawal of said legs from the space between said mattress and thesaid mattress support.

4. A collapsible bed rail for use with a bed having a mattress and amaterial'covered support for said mattress, the said bed railcomprising: a frame member to extend only vertically along the side ofthe bed; two tubular legs mounted on said frame member that arerotatably movable about parallel axes in a substantially horizontalplane, the sum of the lengths of said legs from their respectiverotational axes to their respective ends being greater than the distancebetween their rotational axes, said legs being rotatable to a positionperpendicular to the plane of said frame member and being furtherrotatable to a compact position extending towards each other from theirrespective axes of rotation lengthwise of said frame member, the ends ofsaid legs being flattened in a vertical plane at least a distancetherealong where they overlap when rotated to said compact position,said flattened ends thereby permitting said legs to be rotated to saidcompact position substantially in line with each other, said flattenedend of said one leg being positioned to extend in front of the other inspaced relation thereto when said legs are rotated to said compactposition, said flattened end of said one leg having a front verticalsurface lying in a predetermined vertical plane tangent to thecylindrical external surface of said one leg, said flattened end of saidone leg also having contacting internal surfaces parallel to saidpredetermined plane and a rear external surface parallel to saidpredetermined plane, said flattened end of said other leg having frontvertical surface parallel to said predetermined plane and contactinginternal surfaces parallel to said plane, said front external surface ofsaid other leg being spaced from the rear external surface of said oneleg, said flattened end of said other leg also having a rear surfacelying in a plane tangent to the cylindrical external surface of saidother leg and parallel to said predetermined plane, said flattened endsalso protruding above and below the outline of the tubular portion ofsaid legs to frictionally resist the withdrawal of said legs from thespace between said mattress and the said mattress support.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,360,052 Streich Nov. 23, 1920 1,702,876 McGilvey Feb. 19, 19291,915,774 Busch June 27, 1933 2,555,228 Evers May 29, 1951 2,602,171Good July 8, 1952 2,859,454 Beckwell Nov. 11, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS486,800 Canada Sept. 23, 1952 'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATEOF CORRECTION Patent 1510. 2,991,487' July 11, 1961 George Beckwell Itis hereby certified that error appears in ,-the above numberedpatentrequiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should readas corrected below.

Column 2, line 61, strike out "to the ends of brace 32"; column 3, line4, after "right" insert of that I Signed and sealed this 2nd day ofJanuary 1962.

(SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST W. SWIDER DAVID L. LADD Attesting Officer Commissioner of PatentsI

